


Sweet Deception

by bluelioness31



Series: SuperMystery Continuation [4]
Category: Hardy Boys - Franklin W. Dixon, Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries - Franklin W. Dixon & Carolyn Keene
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29653599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluelioness31/pseuds/bluelioness31
Summary: When George wins a candy company's million dollar prize, it plunges both Nancy and the Hardys into a web of deception and danger
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Series: SuperMystery Continuation [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/831192





	Sweet Deception

“Yahoo!”, Nancy Drew’s scream rang out over Kings Commons theme park as her car exited the final corkscrew of the Royal Pain roller coaster. Beside her Ned Nickerson wore an identical expression of excitement tinged with a slight amount of fear.

Nancy and Ned had come to Kings Commons amusement park to spend a week having fun before Ned had to go back to Emerson College. George Fayne, Bess Marvin and Andrea Davis, who attended Emerson with Ned, had also decided to come along.

“That was awesome!” Ned said, once they were back on the ground.

“It sure was,” Nancy agreed. She was happy that she and Ned could spend this week together. Ned had spent most of the summer coaching basketball at a summer camp in Maine and Nancy’s time had been taken up by one difficult case after another.

“I think it’s time for a lunch break before we ride Labyrinth,”Ned said, referring to the park’s other famous roller coaster.

“Sounds like a great idea.”, Bess said. “What do you think Andrea?”

“That does sound good”, Andrea replied, pushing her black shoulder length hair behind her ears. Despite her words, Nancy noticed a troubled look in her emerald colored eyes.

After they had all sat at a table with a red and blue striped sunshade, Nancy turned round to get a better look at the park. The two roller coasters along with a Ferris wheel and drop tower dominated the park’s skyline.

As they ate lunch, Nancy couldn’t take her eyes off Ned. The T-shirt with the ocean wave on it that he wore as well as his denim cutoffs emphasized his muscular build and despite the fact that his dark eyes were hidden behind sunglasses he somehow looked better than ever. She hadn’t realised how much she missed him until now.

Andrea on the other hand kept looking round and appeared to be nervous, even though Nancy could tell she was trying to hide it.

“I think that we should go on something gentler before we ride Labyrinth”, Bess said. “Like the Antique Carousel.

“That’s probably a good idea”, Ned agreed.

As they walked to the Antique Carousel, Nancy took in the atmosphere. Families streamed through along with kids their own age and a rock song rang out from an electric blue scrambler ride. The smell of frying onions filled the air.

“Remember when we used to come here as kids?” Bess asked. “Remember how huge everything looked back then?”

“It did,” George recalled.

They approached the carousel. Nancy stopped for a moment to admire the bright colors that the ride had been painted in and also the various animals that park goers were sat on while riding the carousel. In addition to the usual horses, there were tigers, lions and even giraffes. Ned stopped beside her, linking his arm through hers. “Ready?” he asked.

“You bet” Nancy told him, her blue eyes gleaming with excitement.

They walked up to the ride and selected two horses that stood side by side. Nancy’s horse had all four hooves off the ground while Ned’s had one leg raised in the air.

“Your noble steed, my lady,” Ned said, giving a playful bow and then holding out his hand to help Nancy up onto her horse.

“Thank you, good Sir knight, “ Nancy said, grabbing the gilded pole of the horse and then pulling herself up.

A jaunty tune started playing and Nancy felt the horse move up and down as the ride began. She watched the park whirl by as the ride turned.

When the ride stopped, Ned helped her down. Nancy lingered in his arms for a moment, enjoying the closeness.

“That was a great warmup,” George said, once the five of them had met up again. “Let’s hit Labyrinth.”

The group walked towards Labyrinth but stopped when they saw a maintenance worker putting a barrier across the entrance.

“What’s going on?” Nancy asked.

“Ride was making some odd noises so they shut it down to check things out” the worker told her, “should be back up and running in a couple of hours or so.”

“Well, thanks anyway.” Nancy said.

“So, what do we do now?” Ned asked, as the group passed through a sunlit garden and under a trellis that was twined with climbing roses.

“We could ride Moat Float,” Bess suggested.

“How about something a little wilder,” George said, “like High Tea.”

“You actually want to ride that,” Bess raised one eyebrow.

“I’m in the mood for speed,” George replied, “and those cups reach a serious pace.”

“Okay,” Bess said, “as long as I don’t have to share a teacup with you again. The last time we were here you made that cup spin so fast that I was seeing double for the rest of the day.”

“How about we spend some time exploring the park?” Nancy said, “we can go on those two rides if Labyrinth still isn’t fixed by the time we’re done.”

“That’s a great idea,” Bess’ blue eyes gleamed with anticipation, “maybe we can check out some stores while we’re at it. I’m dying to get a Kings Commons T-shirt or maybe a baseball cap.”

“That sounds fun too,” George admitted.

The five of them headed to the nearest store. There Nancy spent a pleasant half an hour browsing through souvenirs, including several T-shirts and baseball caps bearing the logos of Royal Chocolates’ products. The candy company also owned and ran the theme park as well as the water park next door and the hotel Nancy and her friends were staying at.

As they were exiting the store, a woman coming in barged into Nancy. “Watch where you’re going,” the woman snapped.

“Sorry,” Nancy said, moving to one side to let the woman past. As she hurried by, Nancy noticed that she was in her mid forties. Despite the casual atmosphere, the woman was dressed in a pantsuit, nylons and smart black flats.

“Someone’s overdressed for the occasion,” George commented, once the group was outside the store.

“Never mind that,” Bess broke in, “look what I got.” She held out five Crown Jewels bars. The caramel and nougat confection was Royal Chocolates’ signature product.

“Do they contain peanut or peanut products?” Andrea said, “I’m allergic to them.”

“Nope, no peanuts in this bar,” Bess replied, “Haven’t you seen their commercials? They practically boast about how it’s made in a different building to their stuff that has peanuts in it.”

“I guess I never caught them,” Andrea said. Nancy could see that she seemed uncomfortable discussing the subject.

“One million dollar grand prize,” Ned read from the front of the candy bar, “do you think anyone ever wins those things?”

“Aren’t the chances like one in seventy five million or something?” Bess said.

“I bet no one ever wins,” Andrea said, a slight bitterness creeping into her tone, “it’s probably just some big publicity stunt.”

“Well, we’re about to find out,” Ned said, taking a candy bar. He unwrapped it. “Well, I struck out,” he said, crumpling the wrapper and putting it in the nearest trash can.

Nancy took a candy bar and tore open the wrapper. “Mine’s a dud too,” she said. She took a bite, savoring both the chewy caramel and the fluffy nougat.

George took one of the candy bars. She paused for a moment, looking at the bar’s gold colored wrapper.

“C’mon,” Bess said, “open it already.”

Finally, George carefully peeled open the wrapper. She stared at it a moment as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. “You guys,” she said softly, “I think I won.”


End file.
